YAMADA Toshiyuki, Ph.D. / Professor

Division of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Research Topics

1. Analysis of regulatory mechanisms of T cell development.

2. Analysis of regulatory mechanisms of ocular development and function.

1. Research in our group is focused on developmental regulation of T cells by using a hairless mutant rat (Hirosaki hairless rat; HHR) showing differentiation failure of CD4+ regulatory T cells in the thymus and helper T cells in the spleen, and deletion of the Ly49s3 gene (ref. 1). As the Ly49s3 gene, regulating interaction of immune cells, is expressed in thymic stromal cells in normal rat, we are now trying to demonstrate that thymic microenvironment of HHR affects differentiation of CD4+ T cells.
2. We also focus on another mutant rat (Hirosaki small eye rat, HiSER) showing abnormalities in its eyes including lens involution and retinal detachment. We have demonstrated that deletion of the βA3/A1-cystallin (Cryba1) gene is the reason for the HiSER phenotype (ref. 2). By using HiSER, we are investigating mechanisms of ocular development and function. We are also exploring the possibility that HiSER to be a model animal of human ocular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration.

Representative Publications

1. Yamada T, Nanashima N, Akita M, Shimizu T, Miura T, Yamana D, Sawano T, Sakurai T, Tsuchida S.; Lectinlike receptor Ly49s3 on dendritic cells contributes to the differentiation of regulatory T cells in the rat thymus. J.Immunol., 191, 3799-3809 (2013).

2. Yamada T, Nanashima N, Shimizu T, Nakazawa Y, Nakazawa M, Tsuchida S.; Establishment of a recessive mutant small-eye rat with lens involution and retinal detachment associated with partial deletion and rearrangement of the Cryba1 gene. Biochem. J., 471, 293-305 (2015).